Luffy Left Meltdown to Pursue Other Sponsorships

News broke last week that French competitor Olivier “Luffy” Hay was leaving Meltdown, his sponsor since 2014. As details weren’t provided, no one was quite sure if he parted ways of his own accord or was dropped from the organization, but the folks over at Best of III got to the bottom of the situation during a recent interview.

According to Hay, the decision to split from Meltdown was entirely this own. While he achieved some notable feats thanks to their sponsorship, namely taking home first place at Evo 2014, he was ready to move on despite the organization’s interest in renewing his contract for the next few years.

“For 2016, I got some good offers from other sponsors,” Hay explained. “I have some really good stuff going on right now, but I guess I’ll announce it in the near future.”

Near the end of the interview, it becomes clear that Hay may have already signed with someone else. Details are still sparse, but he was able to say that his new team is not Team YP and that they have already built up a roster of Street Fighter players.

The full interview can be found below, so check it out for talk of why Hay doesn’t compete in games like League of Legends and Dota 2, his thoughts on Street Fighter V, and more.

Best of III’s main show also featured an interview with Team Spooky’s Arturo Sanchez. During his time on the show, Sanchez discussed the next installment of Team PIE’s King of New York tournament series, how Dhalsim performs in early builds of Street Fighter V, and more, so check that out as well.